According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), gross mortgage lending reached a new record for the month of July totalling £34.4bn.

Although this is down by 1% on the £34.9bn of lending achieved in June 2007, it is 13% higher than the £30.6bn lent in the same month last year. CML believes mortgage lending remains robust despite the five interest rate rises since last August, although it has yet to see the full impact of higher rates. Lending is currently being fuelled by a large number of people re-mortgaging to better deals in case rates increase.

CML believes the cumulative effects of these rate rises will become more pronounced, and we expect this to feed through to lower levels of mortgage lending as the year progresses. CML is keen to point out that it is still on target to reach a record £360bn of mortgage lending this year.